Beastly
by Ash Ninja
Summary: Conner thinks he's a beast. No, not the cool type. The angry, isolated always on his man period type. And it doesn't help when he and the gang watch Beauty and the Beast on movie night Friday. Supermartian. One-shot.


**_Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice.

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**Beast  
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_Tale as old as time _  
_ True as it can be_  
_ Barely even friends_  
_ Then some body bends_  
_ Unexpectedly_

_ Just a little change_  
_ Small to say the least_  
_ Both a little scared_  
_ Neither one prepared_  
_ Beauty and the beast_

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Most of the time Conner thinks he is a failure, a monster, a _beast_. That he was created to solely exist to ruin the lives of others. Has anyone ever truly looked at him? He's sullen, rude and angry ninety-five percent of the time and during the other five percent of the time he's just wallowing in his own self pity.

So, yeah, why wouldn't he be considered as a beast?

The question came up that night night as the team watched a old Walt Disney movie. Conner smirked when he saw the title. Appropriately, it was _Beauty and the Beast._

The clone found himself on the couch in the living room, unfortunately, sandwiched in between Megan and Artemis. His fellow male teammates were seated on the other couch. Wally, obviously, kept sending him envious looks. Conner simply rolled his eyes and gave a heavy sigh, as if he wanted to be caught in this situation. He didn't ask to be the object of these two girls' affections. It just happened that way.

He really hated it.

With these two clearly different women all over him, Conner found it difficult to concentrate on anything this past week. As if Megan and Artemis were in a competition to see who he liked more. In truth, the clone was quite sure he didn't like either of them at the moment.

Sure, he was fine with tolerating Megan's more than friendly feelings for him because he knew she didn't know how to calmly express them. Time from time, she would pay him many unnecessary compliments or give him sidelong looks whenever she thought he never noticed. He knew she couldn't help it and sometimes he found her affections quite a stress reliever. He appreciated how she treated him like a normal person and never teased him like the rest of the team. Making him secretly enjoy her native nature.

Artemis, on the other hand was different, she was sassy, loud and a forward person. The moment he met her Conner could tell that she was very confident in her abilities, very much like him and Wally, and that was a problem. He respected the archer for her boldness and how well she contributed to the team but that was basically all of that he thought of her as. Just another teammate that he tried greatly to tolerate.

"Superboy? Are you alright?" Megan asked softly, snapping him out of his revive.

Artemis laid her hand on his arm and chimed in, "Yeah, Suppey, you're feeling really... _hot_." Conner felt a muscle in his jaw twitch.

"I'm fine." He growled, moving his gaze back onto the screen.

"Mm, yes you _are_." From the corner of his eye he caught Artemis's wink as she withdrew her hand and turned back to watch the movie.

"Artemis." From his left side he could feel Megan glaring at the blond archer again.

Artemis shifted in her seat to look at the young martian woman, she was glaring too. "What?" her voice was firm with irritation.

Superboy tensed up sensing the intense moment was here again, great.

"Hey, hey look! There's Suppey!" Wally suddenly announced, easing the tension in the room. Conner felt the two woman relinquish there staring match, he sighed in relief and turned his attention back to the screen with the rest of the team.

On the High Definition screen was a clearly intimidating image of the Beast's furry angry face as he shouted at Belle in hopes of having her join him for dinner. Conner glanced at Wally, who was rocking with laughter in his seat.

"They _totally _could be twins! Angry and ugly!" The ginger haired boy gasped out, clutching his sides.

Robin started snickering, trying to cover his mouth with his hands while Kaldur scowled disapprovingly at the two younger boys, though it was clear the merman also found it funny. From beside him Artemis was laughing along with the rest of the boys.

Conner grounded his teeth together, squeezing his eyes shut. All these voices, all the laughing and all the ridicule made his vein throb with annoyance. It could have been the truth though, he thought the statement was very true. If they just covered him with glue and faux hair he could pass, without a doubt, as the Beast. His chest started heaving, ears tinging red with frustration. Too much, it was too much to handle.

"That's _enough_! Stop it!" Demanded a stern, sympathetic voice amongst the chaotic laughter and snide remarks.

"Chill, Megs, we're just kidding." Wally said dismissively.

Megan? He turned his head in the martian's direction but kept his head ducked and eyes closed.

"I don't care, you're being really insensitive to Superboy's feelings!" She defended him, her voice stern and unyielding.

"Aw, come on, he knows we're just joking!" Conner heard someone's elbow connect with tender flesh. "Ow! Watch it, Rob!"

"Dude..." The Boy Wonder's voice was soft.

"What? He- Whoa, Suppey, are you _crying_?" There was a hint of amusement in the speedster's voice. Conner didn't reply. Slowly opened his eyes, his vision was blurred around the edges and he reached up to touch the flesh under his eyes. Sure enough he found warm drops of water there.

He _was _crying.

Tears of repressed anger and embarrassment.

"You guys are being rude!" Megan snapped, she looked furious now. Conner liked it.

Wally looked offended and replied, "What? Us? _He'_s the one who can't take a joke!" Robin once again elbowed him in the ribs, this time harder. "OW! STOP IT!"

Conner abruptly stood up and ran out of the room. Behind him he could hear the chaos break out, there was yelling, arguing and mostly yelps of pain from Wally as he was presumably scolded for his insensitive behavior. He hurried down the hall towards the cliff overlooking the Harbor. He needed to get out, to clear his head.

He didn't stop running until he came to the edge of the cliff and threw himself down onto his knees. Chest heaving and face flushed with anger. His hands placed firmly on the ground, fingers ripping at blades of grass.

"To Hell with them, all of them!" Conner shouted furiously, pounding his fists on the dirt. "I _can'_t help this! I was made violent, I'm a living _weapon _for God's sake!" His anger flared out in strong energy waves.

But he knew deep down that they were right.

He was always angry, irrational. Conner didn't know how to act any other way in situations like this. How to take control of his emotions and temper in tense situations. But his main concern was his temper. Which, didn't help his current situation. It made Wally right, making the obvious truth right.

Conner was not just _a _Beast, but _the Beast_.

Self loathing, bitter and isolated.

A poor excuse in this world and it's over bearing inhabitants.

"To Hell with it."

The clone give a tired sigh, calming down and drooped his shoulders. His muscles ached after his little temper tantrum. Conner laid back on the grass, exhausted. Too tired to fight anymore. Around him everything was quiet, tranquil. Undisturbed by his negative attitude and fury. Conner's eyes slowly drifted around the area, amongst the swaying green grass to the unmoved forest and above to the endless black sky scattered with bright stars.

This was Beauty.

"Huh, a Beast living within Beauty. Ironic." Conner mumbled, rolling over onto his stomach and propped his chin up on his arm.

A sudden rustle from behind Conner made him tense, all of the muscles in his body flexing. He stayed silent. Not moving until he heard another rustle in the grass. Slowly he sat up, pushing up with his ears strained to hear another sound, attempting to locate the intruder. The snapping of a twig as someone's foot stepped on it came from his right. There!

In one swift, fluid motion the clone disappeared form his spot on the ground and reappeared behind the intruder, lunged and grabbing him/her's arms, pulling them back into a full Nealson and held whoever it was down inches from the grass. The intruder withered in pain.

Conner squeezed tight on the arms he was holding and heard a grunt of pain

"Conner! Stop, it's Megan!" Gasped a pained voice. "Let go, let go you're going to rip my arm out of it's socket!"

Automatically Conner stopped guiltily and released his firm hold on the martian. She dropped down onto the ground with a light thud and groaned in pain. He knelt down beside her, unsure what to do.

"I'm... I'm sorry." He said quietly. "I didn't mean... I didn't know it was you."

She rolled over onto her back, grasping her arm and replied, "You could have asked."

"I know, I should have. Do you think I should go get the others?" Conner glanced over his shoulder at the Cave. He didn't want to go back and face Wally's smirking face, but he didn't want to just let Megan endure the pain for his childish reasons. Gingerly he placed his hand on her hand grasping her shoulder. "What do you need me to do?"

"I'm fine, it doesn't hurt so much anymore. You didn't do any major damage." She flashed him a weak but bright smile, trying to be brave for him.

Conner shook his head, sitting down cross-legged next to her. "How can you just brush off what I did to you so easily?" he asked.

"I knew you didn't mean to." Megan pushed her heavy red hair back from her face. He quirked his brow at her quizzically.

"Well, I didn't mean to do it to _you_. I was hoping it was Kid... You know, to pay him back for his earlier... comment about me." Conner let his hand slid down from her shoulder, down her side to rest on her hip. He watched her blush deeply and smirked. "But, I'm glad it's just you."

"Yeah, me too." Her voice is now soft and slightly nervous. Scared.

And to his surprise, so was he. "What was that?"

Conner glanced at the thicket of tree, using his supervision to see through the dark and wood. He could make out two small silhouettes heading in their direction. Intently his hand that rested on her hip gave it a light squeeze, drawing her attention. She tensed against him for moment before following his gaze.

Suddenly Megan laid her hand calmly on his shoulder and said, "Wait, I'm sure they're harmless."

"How do you know?" Conner asked skeptically.

"Just wait," she replied, fixing her gaze on the bushes lining the beginning of the small forest.

The bushes began to rustle and shake, Conner tensed. He glanced down at her and then at her hand that rested on his shoulder, noticing how warm and soft it was against his skin. Her touch was calming to him. Softly he swept his thumb over her hipbone.

"Conner!" Megan breathed out. "Look."

The clone followed the green digit finger that pointed to the bushes as two dark shapes emerged out of the wood, prancing out into the clearing. Becoming easier to see in the bright moonlight. He cocked his head to the side and squinted at the small animals that walked in their direction and stopped a few yards away. He looked at Megan questionably.

"What are they?" he asked.

"Deer, silly. White-tailed deer, actually." Megan slowly gets to her feet and slowly begins to walk toward the two brown furred creatures. Conner frowned at her actions, quickly getting to his feet. She threw her hand out to stop him. "Stop, don't make so much noise, you'll scare them away. They're pretty skittish animals."

"Oh," Conner mumbled, slowing his jog to a walk. "Sorry."

Megan just nodded her head, continuing her approach on the deer.

He noted how she stepped lightly starting with the heels of her feet to the balls of her feet, making as little noise as possible. Clumsily he did his best to imitate her movements. Megan stopped walking three feet away from the grazing deer and crouched down on the grass. Conner did the same, watching as the deer finally took notice of their presence. Their dark, blank eyes stared back at them. It almost felt as if they are looking right through him. Conner shuddered ever so lightly.

"Careful," Megan leaned over and whispered into his ear. "They are debating whether or not if we are safe for them to approach."

"Okay." He nodded. The deer, who seemed to have debated that it was safe to approach, trotted over to where they were crouching.

Megan slowly extended her hand towards the smaller of the two deer. The small deer stepped toward her and sniffed at her palm, allowing her to stroke it's golden-brown pelt with her other hand. She looked back at him to motion with hers to pet the other deer.

"Go on," She said encouragingly. "Just stick you hand out."

Glancing over his shoulder, the clone stuck his hand in the other deer's face. The animal bent it's ears back, reared back and nipped at his finger. "Darn!" he hissed, putting his bleeding finger into his mouth and sucked on the tore flesh.

Megan touched his wrist, the pain slightly calmed at her touch. "You have to be gentler and slower when you offer your hand to them."

"I was!" He snapped, the was another rustling sound in the grass and he watched as the deer flounced back into the woods as if they had sensed his anger.

The martian shook her her and sighed, "Too late now."

Conner's eyebrows knitted together and turned his head to look at her, ready to reply. But he froze. Megan was close to him, so close that the tip of their noses were touching. That gave him a moment to closely observe every single detail of her face. The soft, slender features of her face were more noticeable in the silver moonlight. From her small forehead and classic button nose to her dark hazel eyes that were commonly mistaken for brown and finally down to her smooth, red lips.

If he had to choose and use a word to describe Megan it would be beautiful, not just cute like her personality and not yet beautiful in a fully matured way. But, beautiful seemed like the most appropriate word for the martian. It would have been simple to say too. She was a beautiful girl. Smart, caring, understanding and from time to time native but overall he found her to be beautiful.

The Beauty to his Beast.

Conner mentally kicked himself, how much cornier could he possibly get? They were barely even friends! He really needed to stop acting as if he didn't care that the team watched rom-coms every movie night.

"Well... I had fun, Conner... Despite the fact that you have possibly bruised my arm and the deer biting you." Megan said, snapping him out of his revive. She was already on her feet, wringing her hands together behind her back.

He nodded, also standing up and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah... Sorry, again."

"It's okay... Could you walk me back to my room?" The martian blushed deeply and hurriedly added, "Y-You know, just in case I faint o-or pass out or-"

Conner held his hand up and said, "Yeah, okay."

He started walking back towards the Cave and Megan quickly falling in step with him. The walk back to her room was quiet, they both knew it was better that way and as they walk through the living room to see that the rest of the team has already moved on to playing Black Ops. From beside Kaldur on the couch, Artemis shot daggers at Megan as the pair passed by.

The martian ducked her head and sighed. Conner quirked his brow in question, sensing her distress but didn't say anything.

Finally they arrived at Megan's bedroom door. Conner silently watched as she punched in her passcode, mentally memorizing the code for future purpose and scuffed his shoe against the floor. Megan walked into her room, paused and turned back toward him.

"Listen, Superboy, I didn't want to drag you into the middle of this. This some what... war going on between Artemis and I." She shook her head and chuckled lightly. "Actually, I never wanted one to start to begin with."

"I see." Conner mumbled, lifting his gaze toward her face.

Megan chewed nervously on her lower lip like she always did when she's anxious or nervous. "I'm so sorry if I have caused you any trouble these past few days. I'll talk to Artemis and-"

He cut her off by simply reaching over and lacing his fingers with hers. Giving it a reassuring squeeze. The corners of his lips quirked up when Megan blushed, her hand becoming warm in his grasp. He liked it, the feeling of making her nervous, the way she blushed when he's around her.

"Goodnight, Megan." Conner said quietly, letting her hand fall from his grasp, his fingertips brushing against hers lingeringly.

She found the courage to look him in the eyes for the first time and smiles brightly. "Goodnight, Superboy." Slowly she stepped back into her room and the door slid shut.

Walking back to his room, Conner felt bitter sweet. Finding the feeling strange, that he could easily change. Then laying down in bed in his signature shirt and blue sweatpants he thought about Megan and how she looked in the moonlight petting the deer. A slight smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

Maybe he was wrong.

Maybe he wasn't the angry, isolated Beast he and everyone thought he was.

Maybe, because Conner finally accepted everyone's beastly perspective of him.

Or maybe because of the Beauty just down the hall.

He groaned and rolled over, there definitely needed to be a movie night devoted to explosions and gunfire.

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**A/n: Just something I thought of while watching Beauty and the Beast today. Hope you guys enjoyed this and are stilling reading my other Supermartian fic 'Supernova'.**

**Reviews would be great and flames aren't. **

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_Tale as old as time _  
_ Tune as old as song_  
_ Bitter sweet and strange _  
_ Finding you can change_  
_ Learning you were wrong_  
_ Certain as the sun _  
_ Rising in the east_

_Beauty and the Beast_


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